It unrolled a new feature Monday allowing people at CES to view and post to an exclusive CES feed on Secret. Only those in the Las Vegas area can add content, turning Secret into a geofenced members-only club for whining about Mandalay Bay Wi-Fi, discovering the best after party, and mocking Samsung’s keynote.

A location based social feed — it’s like Twitter circa SXSW 2007. But where Twitter grew too large and noisy to deliver on its initial events flair, Secret’s geofencing makes sure the party stays small.

Yik Yak’s Peek Anywhere list, with featured themes and events at the top

As others have said, it’s a “fun experiment“, one that “could give Secret an edge over Yik Yak.” There’s just one caveat: Yik Yak already has this feature. It created it months ago. (For a primer on Yik Yak, a college campus staple, read here).

In its “Peek Anywhere” section, Yik Yak users are prompted to check out feeds from geofenced areas around events like college football games and music festivals. The Featured peeks change day-by-day depending on what’s happening, and allow people to get a glimpse of the action on the ground somewhere. Yik Yak, in turn, probably got its Featured Peeks idea from Snapchat’s Featured Stories.

“If you look at any text-based social network, it’s all text,” Bader pointed out. “I suspect Yik Yak and Secret will diverge a lot over the next six months.” He wouldn’t elaborate, but hinted that Secret’s upcoming design and feature changes will focus on other contexts besides location.

Regardless of whether Secret is ripping off Yik Yak, it’s a time honored truism that the tech company that succeeds is the one that executes the best, not necessarily the one that executes first (see: Facebook v. MySpace; iPad v. many tablets that came before).

If Secret can spread through the tech crowd to other demographics, perhaps it could beat Yik Yak at its own game. After all, Yik Yak has largely ignored the Silicon Valley audience until this point. Instead, it has grown virally the way Facebook did, through college campuses.

By launching an events based feed at CES, Secret might get a leg up on the early adopter audience. Assuming that Twitter circa SXSW 2007 is still something people in tech want.

]]>At CES, let’s just concede defeat for an open standard for IoThttp://gigaom.com/2014/12/31/at-ces-lets-just-concede-defeat-for-an-open-standard-for-iot/
http://gigaom.com/2014/12/31/at-ces-lets-just-concede-defeat-for-an-open-standard-for-iot/#commentsWed, 31 Dec 2014 14:00:24 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=903316Let’s just get this out of the way, y’all. We are not going to see some kind of open standard or HTML-like universal language for the internet of things or the smart home at International CES in Las Vegas next week. Instead we’re going to get a bunch of different platforms that will strive to create walled gardens. Walled gardens that will be bridged — sometimes clumsily — in the clouds via services or hubs. So consumers will have to go all in on HomeKit, or Nest or iControl’s Open Home or Wink or whatever, or work a bit harder with services like If This Then That or SmartThings or others to make their devices work together.

With that in mind, here are the internet of things-related trends we’ll see at CES next week:

The Works with Nest developer program will have several partners and devices that people should be excited about, although I’m not sure how many of those will be announcements versus actual implementations.

I think the iControl’s OpenHome and the Wink certifications will stay in the game and likely come out of this CES with some strong partnerships.

We’ll see announcements from one-off device makers that will see them supporting the major platforms through software integrations or even hardware or offer their own programs to help others support those platforms without having to invest development time and effort. This will be a tough area as only a few middlemen will make it.

The consolidation of many of home automation devices under a few platforms will be the major theme of the show, but there will be other internet of things-related trends worth exploring as well. Medical devices for the lay consumer as well as FDA-approved devices for diagnosing fevers and even various illnesses will also be demonstrated. I’ve also seen a variety of connected devices pitched to me related to conditions as varied as chronic pain, anaphylaxis (when you can’t breathe because of an allergic reaction) and diabetes.

As I’ve said, some of these are FDA-approved, while others are purporting to show connections between certain data points the consumer tracks in their blood pressure or heart rate or urine and their health. As more and more of these devices come on the market I’m growing increasingly leery of the claims being made, in part because the mix of statistics that the FDA looks at when evaluating and discussing the efficacy of a medical device and the marketing that the consumer looks at when deciding whether to purchase such as device are very different.

For an example of the disconnect between statistical relevance in the medical field and a consumer’s understanding of what that means, the Boston Globe’s reporting on fetal genetic tests offers a heartbreaking look at what happens when the dry world of math meets marketing. Marketing wins and it’s not always beneficial to the consumer.

The internet of things will also creep further into cars, beacons will provide more presence in our homes, we’ll see more Bluetooth devices and everything will get an algorithm. We’ll even have algorithms to manage our things’ algorithms and possibly a few services to manage our myriad things. Clearly the trends are still telling us that the internet of things and the smart home are still too complicated for most consumers.

But since this is the next big thing, both in terms of selling new gadgets and in terms of gathering ever more data from consumers, the industry is ready to put all of its muscle to figure out how to solve that complexity. Maybe it’s a bigger platform or a better algorithm. Perhaps a service or an app will do the trick. But one thing is for sure: It’s not going to be an open standard.

The fact that its NFC-enabled badges were the highlight of the show for Kevin Tofel speaks volumes about the state of CES. There was a bunch of cool stuff to be seen (4K TVs! Connected everythings! T-Mobile (s TMUS) CEO John Legere getting tossed out of an AT&T (s T) party!), but companies are now more adept at creating their own big news events.

Despite all that, we pulled in Kevin, Janko Roettgers as well as Kevin Fitchard to talk about the cool stuff that did debut in Vegas, and we all wondered what the heck Yahoo (s YHOO) was doing at an electronics show.

It’s CES time again, and our intrepid reporter, Kevin Tofel, braved the big crowds and buffets so you don’t have to. Sadly, though, there was little Chrome news out of the show — a new Toshiba Chromebook and the official LG Chromebase reveal. But fear not, we caught Kevin between briefings to put together a full episode of Chrome-y goodness for you!

]]>http://gigaom.com/2014/01/08/chromes-almost-no-show-at-ces-and-is-2gb-too-little/feed/5My hope for CES 2014: Consumer Electronics Simplicityhttp://gigaom.com/2014/01/05/my-hope-for-ces-2014-consumer-electronics-simplicity/
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/05/my-hope-for-ces-2014-consumer-electronics-simplicity/#commentsSun, 05 Jan 2014 20:05:25 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=789093I’m writing this on a plane heading from Philadelphia to Las Vegas, where I’ll be spending the week with 150,000 of my closest friends at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show. This year’s event will surely have its share of gee-whiz products with features to wow. After eight years of covering CES, I’m expecting — hoping, really — for more of something else in this ninth edition. Ideally, this year’s CES will set up 2014 for Consumer Electronics Simplicty.

We’ve been in the midst of a “simple” revolution, whether you’ve noticed it or not. People are relying less on traditional computers and more on computing appliances.

Think of what the current smartphone era has brought: More powerful pocketable devices that are by and large far easier to use than the previous generation. The same applies to tablets. I’ve never seen an infant pick up quickly on how to use a desktop computer, but put an iPad(s aapl) in their hands and you’ll see magic happen.

That doesn’t mean new devices don’t have great advanced features. The difference today is that those features should just work with minimal intervention. Products that are intuitively easier to understand and use are the ones that have the best chance of success for mainstream adoption. Likewise, those products that are complicated to set up, difficult to navigate and control or simply add features for technology’s sake are challenged to find an audience.

Need a few examples?

On the software side, Instagram comes to mind. There are better camera apps on the market, for sure. But Instagram gained success because it’s easy to snap a picture, quickly adjust it with minimal editing tools or filters, and share it with others. It couldn’t be an easier experience. Sure, the social aspect has much to do with Instagram becoming a household name, but the simplicity of Instagram’s core function is a big plus. Without that, my non-techie friends would never even know about it.

How about smartwatches? I’m sure to see dozens of new entrants here over this coming week as companies vie for the space on your wrist. The ones that will impress me aren’t going to be the ones with the most features though. I’ll be looking for ease of use for the functions that I expect people will want to use often. Right now, I’d say Pebble is among the best in this category: It’s not a complex wearable, and it ticks the right check-boxes for notifications without cramming in a ton of add-on features.

A related example in wearables are the his and hers Fitbit Force devices I bought for me and my wife over the holidays. They have a small screen and one button that cycles through the half-dozen bits of quantified-self data the device tracks. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how to use them and that’s partly why I gave the product a nod on our list of favorite Christmas gadget gifts this year.

They were also easy to set up thanks to the companion app which works with Bluetooth Smart. No manual pairing steps were required: The software just scanned for the wearable and made the connection. Syncing data from the Fibit to the phone happens automatically in the background. No muss, no fuss.

In a sense, to the average non-technical person, this looks like magic. That’s far from what I’ve experienced in another area that’s sure to be hot at this year’s CES: The connected home.

Granted, I’m an early adopter and started building out my connected home in 2010. Back than, I had to choose a network type — I selected Insteon for a number of reasons — find compatible devices and install them. Plug and play, they generally aren’t. Adding a connected outlet or switch for example requires a device-specific identifier, pressing a button on the device for 10 seconds and then running to the main computer to have a server search for the device ID on network. This is not consumer friendly.

Fast forward to this year and we should see more connected home gadgets that use the more ubiquitous Wi-Fi networks that consumers already have and are familiar with. Switches, outlets, web cams, door locks and the like will — or should — be installed and usable within seconds of being plugged in.

As a tech enthusiast, I understand how much has to happen behind the scenes for that scenario. And I appreciate what companies need to do to make that happen. The average consumer doesn’t care though. They want powerful experiences from their gadgets without giving the devices themselves a second thought.

Making the “tech” invisible should be the goal for companies because that’s what makes for a potentially good appliance: Plug it in and go. That’s what I hope to see more of at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show: Less technology front-and-center and more “magic.” All the features in the world aren’t going to sell products if average consumers simply can’t use them or get too frustrated by a complex out of box experience.

Disclosure: Fitbit is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of Gigaom. Om Malik, founder of Gigaom, is also a venture partner at True.

It’s the second most wonderful time of the year — CES time! The Consumer Electronics Show invades Las Vegas next week and we’re giving you a sneak peek. Though, to be fair, as our intrepid gadgeteers Janko Roettgers and Kevin Tofel point out — a lot of what to expect has already been released through various leaks and pre-announcements.

But don’t let that stop you from enjoying a fun-filled discussion about some great gear and devices as well as a little detour into ABC putting up a paywall in front of its TV episodes and how that impacts cord cutting.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2014/01/03/what-to-expect-when-youre-ces-ing-4k-tv-wearables-and-phablets/feed/2CES 2013 flash analysis: disruptions and disappointments from consumer tech’s biggest showhttp://gigaom.com/report/ces-2013-flash-analysis-disruptions-and-disappointments-from-consumer-techs-biggest-show/
http://gigaom.com/report/ces-2013-flash-analysis-disruptions-and-disappointments-from-consumer-techs-biggest-show/#respondTue, 22 Jan 2013 21:01:14 +0000http://pro.gigaom.com/?post_type=go-report&p=172359/Every January the themes for the coming year in technology are, if not outright determined in Las Vegas, certainly on show alongside the cityʼs casinos and all-you-can-eat buffets. Thatʼs because Las Vegas is home to CES. CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is now much bigger than its original name implies. While the show originally was all about — what else? — consumer electronics, nowadays it shows off all the latest in smart-home technology, digital health, connected cars, virtual reality, and mobile platforms.

Given how CES is now a barometer for such a wide array of technology segments, we at GigaOM Research decided to ask our readers which way the tech winds will blow over the next year based
on what they saw in Las Vegas. We conducted a survey and asked a few basic questions, such as:

Based on announcements at CES, which technology category do you think will have the most disruptive impact in 2013?

Which technology was most disappointing at CES?

In a few words, tell us which CES technologies and trends made an impression and why.

We also asked respondents to tell us which technologies and companies they were most impressed with and why.

In this report, weʼll look at the technologies our survey respondents thought were the most or least interesting at the show. We will also add context to the numbers in the form of our own analysis. The categories examined in this report are TV technology, smart home, connected car, internet of things, virtual or augmented reality, 3D printing, interfaces, digital health, mobility, and robotics.So what did we learn from our survey and our own observations of the show? Here are a few highlights:

There is no dominant winner-take-all technology at the modern CES. As I mentioned previously, the show has gone from one focused primarily on TVs and consumer electronics to a show where nearly every type of technology vendor comes to show their wares. In fact, CES has almost become many shows in one.

The future is here today, and itʼs shipping. While CES will always have a large amount of vaporware, many of the technologies that were previously largely talked about in the future tense are available today. From the virtual reality of Oculus Rift to smartphone-controlled home locks, the future has arrived today, itʼs shipping, and it may even scale.

One manʼs trash is anotherʼs treasure. While 16 percent of our respondents felt digital health was the technology that had the best showing at CES, 13 percent felt it had the most disappointing show. Thirteen percent felt 3D printing knocked it out the park. Another 8 percent felt it hit a dribbler to ﬁrst base. My takeaway is that our respondentsʼ reaction to each technology is based on their perspective and expectations.

Mobile is the dominant computing paradigm today, for better or worse. Mobile, which has been bucketed as “growing” and “emerging” over the past two decades, is now the primary computing technology. In other words, itʼs vastly important, but the more interesting developments are coming from the periphery of mobile rather than mobile itself.

CES is dead. See you next year in Vegas. Every year about 100 journalists pen a “CES is dead” post, pointing out how the show has gotten too big, too scattered, and too long in the tooth. Theyʼre all right. But CES is still immensely valuable as a networking show. I mean, where else can all of the tech world get together, compare notes, eat at the buffet, and do some deals?

]]>http://gigaom.com/report/ces-2013-flash-analysis-disruptions-and-disappointments-from-consumer-techs-biggest-show/feed/0Digitizing the doctor’s office: 7 ways technology will shape healthcare in 2013http://gigaom.com/2013/01/11/digitizing-the-doctors-office-7-ways-technology-will-shape-healthcare-in-2013/
http://gigaom.com/2013/01/11/digitizing-the-doctors-office-7-ways-technology-will-shape-healthcare-in-2013/#commentsFri, 11 Jan 2013 17:14:31 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=601043At the Consumer Electronics Show this week, all kinds of health devices and apps are taking center stage. But beyond potentially improving the health of individuals, what does the boom in digital health mean for the health care industry over all?

This week, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released its annual report on the top health industry issues. The document touches on everything from state debates over establishing Affordable Care Act-mandated health insurance exchanges to employers’ new role in providing health care to the growing influence of the consumer. Chris Wasden, PwC’s Global Healthcare Innovation Leader, chatted with me about how technology specifically fits into the bigger picture and the ways in which it will impact the industry in the next few months and years.

“Consumers [think that] with my mobile device, I can control the light fixtures in my home remotely, I can buy and sell goods, I can get directions. I’m able to do all these things and yet, when I walk into [the doctor’s] office, I can’t use my mobile device to do anything,” said Wasden.

Technology is poised to shape the health care industry in several ways – here are seven of those trends to watch in 2013.

Consumers get more tools for being cost-savvy

If you needed to buy a plane ticket across the country, you’d likely have a sense of how much it would cost and, if not, you’d at least know where to go to find out. But what if you needed to pay for an MRI? Or a colonoscopy? Or a mammogram? Comparison shopping is the modus operandi for most big-ticket items we purchase, but not so for healthcare – until now.

We’re clearly not going to become a nation of cost-savvy health care consumers overnight. But as states implement the recently-passed Affordable Care Act (ACA) and establish health care exchanges, they’ll be under more pressure to provide tools that assist people in choosing their own coverage. The push for more transparency is also coming from employers’ shifts to higher-deductible health plans and, says PwC, the rise of retail health clinics that provide health services in nontraditional environments, like pharmacies, big box stores and other non-medical locations. Sites like Castlight Health, ClearCostHealth and GoHealth are leading the way in comparison shopping, while startups like Simplee and CakeHealth help consumers manage and understand their health care finances.

Employer as health coach

When it comes to health care, employers have played the role of banker for decades, but, going forward, many may start playing the part of coach. Given new incentives in the ACA and in light of rising health care costs, employers will increasingly rethink their roles, says PwC. And, as they do, many could embrace prevention-focused, data-driven employee wellness programs that quantifiably monitor employees’ behavior and provide tangible rewards. With new fitness trackers like FitBits, WiFi-enabled scales and biometric devices that measure blood glucose levels, blood pressure and other vital signs, programs from companies like Healthrageous remotely track patient progress and outcomes; companies like Keas use social media and gamification to keep employees engaged; and PUSH, for example, actually pays employees for achieving their goals.

Consumer ratings make a difference

Consumer reviews are run-of-the mill for everything from restaurants and reviews to gadgets and books sold on Amazon(s amzn). And they’re slowly making their way into health. Through consumer services, like ZocDoc, HealthTap and Healthgrades, patients are reading and contributing comments about their doctors. And, PwC’s report highlights that government payment to hospitals is increasingly being connected to consumer experience and satisfaction. Historically, health care providers have been resistant to reviews, believing that patient ratings would skew negative. But a study last year, found that patient reviews were largely positive. A more recent study indicated that too few patients had submitted reviews for rankings on sites like Healthgrades, Vitals and RateMD to be reliable. Still, though there are limitations to the ratings, patients support them and their value is expected to grow.

Nonphysicians put on the doctor’s coat

You’ve likely heard the phrase “doctor shortage” bandied about considerably in recent months. But according to a new study in Health Affairs, most estimates don’t consider how new technology, paired with nonphysicians, can make it possible to treat more patients with fewer physicians. The health care industry may be more resistant to this kind of change than any other, says Wasden. But electronic communication, big data and other kinds of information technology will result in nurses, pharmacists and other nonphysicians stepping up to offset at least some of the increase in demand for doctor services.

Health comes home

Considering that we spend far more of our time at our houses and apartments than we do at the doctor’s office, health has always started with the home, Wasden notes. But the rise of telehealth services, from startups like Ringadoc to a national telehealth program from insurer WellPoint, as well as the growth of connected and wearable devices that enable doctors to monitor patients remotely, will make health even more bound to the home. Additionally, PwC reports that concierge medicine and “population health” approaches to care, which reward physicians based on outcomes, not treatment, are on the rise. And to keep patients healthy and out of their offices, physicians will increasingly rely on digital communication.

Consumerization of health IT

Mobile technology, as we and others have reported, is sweeping health care. But that isn’t because IT departments across the industry have pushed it into the doctor’s office, it’s because doctors and consumers have. Doctors rarely warm quickly to IT initiatives, Wasden said, but because of their attachment to their mobile devices, they’re starting to bring them to work. The downside of the “bring your own device” trend is that hospitals must contend with security issues. But the upside is that it’s bringing consumer technology into health at a faster pace, which bodes well for patient engagement and more communication between patients and health care providers.

Big pharma goes ‘beyond the pill’

For years, drug companies have been looking for ways to provide value “beyond the pill,” says Wasden, and as they do, more are turning to apps, devices and sensor-based technology. Those options help keep them relevant to consumers on an ongoing basis and they help them address increasing pressure to show outcomes. For example, earlier this year, Pfizer (s PFE) launched a Lipitor app just as generic versions of its drug hit the market. Drug firm Novartis (s NVS) is an investor in Proteus Digital Health, which this summer received FDA approval for its chip-embedded pill.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2013/01/11/digitizing-the-doctors-office-7-ways-technology-will-shape-healthcare-in-2013/feed/5McGraw-Hill’s new adaptive ebooks aim to adjust to students’ learning needshttp://gigaom.com/2013/01/08/mcgraw-hills-new-adaptive-ebooks-aim-to-adjust-to-students-learning-needs/
http://gigaom.com/2013/01/08/mcgraw-hills-new-adaptive-ebooks-aim-to-adjust-to-students-learning-needs/#commentsTue, 08 Jan 2013 16:52:08 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=599987As publishing giants and tech companies attempt to remake the humble textbook in their own image, McGraw-Hill Education on Tuesday offered up its latest take on the learning platform of the future.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the education-focused division of the McGraw-Hill Companies (s MHP) unveiled the SmartBook, an adaptive ebook that adjusts the reading experience to each student’s pace and mastery level.

Content is still structured somewhat like a textbook but instead of asking students to read it thoroughly from start to finish, it coaches the student on how to read the material and quizzes them on various concepts as they move through each section. Depending on their responses, they’re guided along to different highlighted passages. McGraw-Hill said it expects to release SmartBooks at prices starting at $19.99 for about 90 courses later this Spring.

The program, which is available on computers and tablets, builds on the 12 billion data points on student learning collected from LearnSmart, McGraw-Hill’s adaptive learning platform, the company said. But where LearnSmart is more focused on reviewing material, SmartBook attempts to help students read more efficiently to better retain information.

From a demo, it does seem that the SmartBook aims to provide an adaptive reading experience that adjusts to students with a good deal of granularity, using dynamic text and voice instructions to literally talk them through the program and point out the areas on which they should focus. But McGraw-Hill’s products are not the only adaptive learning platforms out there. A year ago, at CES, for example, publishing giant Pearson (s PLC) announced that adaptive learning company Knewton would power its digital offerings. Macmillan also offers an adaptive assessment tool in its PrepU program.

The program closely tracks student behavior and, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company may share that data with instructors to improve courses, which could raise privacy questions for students and parents. But the company has said that it takes data protection seriously.

With increasing options for digital content, including open content and self-authoring platforms, McGraw-Hill Education and other textbook publishers are attempting to set themselves apart with products that make textbooks more interactive and smarter. The digital textbook market is still a small piece of the overall textbook universe but it’s expected to become a driver of growth. Kibby has been especially bullish on digital textbooks, arguing that higher education should go totally digital by 2015.

In November, McGraw-Hill announced that it planned to sell its education arm to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $2.5 billion, but the deal has not yet closed.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2013/01/08/mcgraw-hills-new-adaptive-ebooks-aim-to-adjust-to-students-learning-needs/feed/4Amazon launches Vegas trade show for AWS developers, usershttp://gigaom.com/2012/05/09/amazon-launches-vegas-trade-show-for-aws-developers-users/
Thu, 10 May 2012 04:43:16 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=519968Amazon(s amzn) is looking more like an old-school IT vendor every day. In November, it will host its first-ever partner and customer conference at The Venetian in Las Vegas. The web services giant posted a “save the date” for the three-day AWS re:invent show on its blog Wednesday. The event will run from November 27 through 29.

A Las Vegas trade show in November is tried-and-true IT vendor behavior and news of it comes just weeks after Amazon launched an AWS partner program that echos similar incentive programs offered by companies like Microsoft and IBM for years.

It also wants to draw startups that are looking for cloud infrastruture and enterprise IT professionals, according to the post on the AWS blog. Topics will include gaming, disaster recovery, big data, HPC and analytics, according to the blog post.

(**For those too young to remember, Comdex at its peak drew up to 200,000 people to the desert in the weeks before Thanksgiving. It was the go-to venue for IT buyers who went to see and perhaps hobnob with PC era luminaries like Microsoft’s(s msft) Bill Gates while checking out the latest technology. Comdex shut down in 2004 having been supplanted by the giant Consumer Electronics Show and a series of smaller, more focused trade shows.)